Jack Hale’s attempt to win the 2018 Burnie Gift will start from the historic mark of one metre behind scratch at Monday’s New Year’s Day carnival.
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![Not so easy next time: Jack Hale (red) celebrates his win in the Latrobe Gift, but will be dragged back 1.5m for the Burnie Gift. Pic: Brodie Weeding. Not so easy next time: Jack Hale (red) celebrates his win in the Latrobe Gift, but will be dragged back 1.5m for the Burnie Gift. Pic: Brodie Weeding.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Eweshp4pv4XdQCbHJJsWnp/cbf876e0-bb0c-498c-80a5-2007854fd14e.JPG/r0_153_5286_3137_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Following on from his powerful win at Latrobe earlier on in the Christmas Carnivals series off 0.5m, Hale has been hauled back a further 1.5m for Tasmania’s richest sprint.
No runner has ever started from that mark before and only two Burnie Gift winners, Dean Capobianco (1991) and Josh Ross (2004 and 2007), have won the race off scratch.
Along with the $9000 in prizemoney available to the winner, an anonymous donor has also stumped up a further $1000 to Hale should he triumph.
Despite the head start he is giving everyone, Hale is still expected to be a major player in the race, with local frontmarkers Eddie Gates and David McCrae also tipped to do well.
In the women’s gift, defending champion Morgan Gaffney will be out to claim her fourth title, but will need to be at her best, especially after taking out the 400m gift at Devonport on Saturday night.
Starting off scratch, Maddie Coates and Ashleigh Whittaker will add plenty of class to the field and could feature, while a good showing is tipped from young Hobart runner Kiana Allen.
There will also be plenty of attention given to the Open Mile race where Stewart McSweyn, Luke Matthews, Sam McEntee and Matt Ramsden lead a high-class field trying to break the magical four-minute barrier on the grass track of West Park.
The cycling program will see Western Australian Sam Welsford try to become the first rider in the event’s history to win three successive men’s wheel races.
Local star Amy Cure will be out to snare her fourth women’s wheel, but will need plenty of help from scratch with windy conditions expected.
Another world championship is on offer in the woodchopping, with the chips expected to fly in the 325mm standing final.
Action starts at 11am.